Third time not a charm

Raiders fall to Eagles in sectionals

By Casey Krautkramer

The Marathon varsity boys basketball team’s most recent success against Auburndale in sectional semifinals, combined with the team’s 2023 regularseason sweep against the Eagles, gave fans the feeling it would be another slam dunk win for the Red Raiders against the Eagles in Thursday’s WIAA Division 4 sectional semifinal in Marshfield.

Marathon beat Auburndale in back-toback sectional Auburn- semifinals at D.C. Everest in the 2018 and 2019 seasons. The Red Raiders won back-to-back Marawood South Conference championships this season in large part to defeating the Eagles twice in the regular season, even though the Eagles were ranked higher than the Red Raiders in the Division 4 coaches poll this entire season.

The Red Raiders’ 55-47 loss to the Eagles in Thursday’s sectional semifinal defined the popular term “March Madness” this time of year. That’s because Marathon jumped out to a 31-20 halftime advantage against Auburndale, thanks to junior six-foot-nine center Grant Warren’s eight points, nine rebounds and four blocks. Senior guard Drew Love and junior forward Tyler Underwood each had nine points at halftime.

Marathon enjoyed the lead against Auburndale for the first 30 of the 36 minutes in the game. Auburndale senior Alex Willfahrt sank four three pointers in his team’s four straight offensive possessions to tie the game at 43 with six minutes remaining. Evan Scholl’s basket inside gave Auburndale its first lead of the game, 45-43, with just over five minutes left in regulation. Warren scored a bucket to tie the game back up at 45 points but the Red Raiders would not hold the lead against the Eagles for the rest of the game.

Later in the game, Underwood’s upand- under move led to a basket as the Red Raiders trimmed the Eagles’ lead to only two points with one minute, 37 seconds left in the game. The Eagles were then content to simply pass the ball around on offense until the time ran out on the game clock to secure the victory. The issue was Marathon had only committed four team fouls at this point in the game. Adam Jacobson, Red Raiders head coach, was out on the floor screaming at his players on the other end of the court with only 53 seconds left in the game to foul the Eagles on purpose.

Marathon quickly fouled Auburndale three straight times in order to commit seven team fouls and send the Eagles to the free-throw line for bonus free throws. Coach Jacobson banked on Auburndale’s players missing their bonus free throws to give Marathon the ball back on offense for opportunities to tie and regain the lead for the win.

Another problem for Marathon was that Auburndale started making its free throws. Eagles senior Mason White Eagle swished both of his bonus free throws with 47.9 seconds left to give Auburndale a 51-47 lead. Coach Jacobson was frustrated to witness his team just passing the ball around the perimeter on offense with no urgency to score a basket in the waning seconds of the game, forcing him to call a timeout to give his players some direction.

After Marathon couldn’t score on offense, it fouled White Eagle again and he converted both of his bonus free throws to give Auburndale a 53-47 advantage with only 18.9 seconds remaining. Red Raiders senior forward Mason Seehafer fouled Eagles senior Lucas Yeske with 8.1 seconds left, and Yeske drained both of his bonus free throws. Coach Jacobson substituted out his top junior players Underwood and Warren knowing the game was over.

Coach Jacobson said it’s extremely difficult for a team to beat a tough conference opponent like Auburndale three times in the same season.

“It is always difficult to beat teams from our league a third time, especially a team like Auburndale that has won 24 games,” Jacobson said. “We prepare ourselves for it because we know that we are likely going to face Marawood teams again in our playoff journey, as we have for many years. You need to be the better team on that given night and unfortunately in the second half we didn’t make the plays we needed to and Auburndale did. Two really good teams played each other and unfortunately we came up short in the second half.”

Underwood led Marathon with 16 points while Warren contributed 14 points and senior guard Love added 12. Warren paced the Red Raiders with 14 rebounds and many blocked shots. Love and Seehafer led the team with three assists each. White Eagle and Willfahrt led Auburndle with 16 points apiece and Yeske added 12.

Warren reflected on his junior basketball season. “I think it was a really good season overall because we won back-to-back conference championships, which was one of your team goals this season,” Warren said. “We didn’t reach our goal of winning a state championship, but only five teams in the state, one in each division, finish their season as state champions.”

Warren has already turned his attention to playing his next sport, baseball, for the Red Raiders this spring. However, it’s going to take some time for him to get over Marathon’s sectional semifi nal basketball loss to Auburndale. This tough defeat will constantly be in his mind this summer while he works on improving his basketball skills in preparation for next season.

“There are always ways for someone to become better; there is no perfect basketball player,” he said. “I need to work at becoming better at jump shooting and my ball handling like making plays off the dribble. I also need to work on becoming more patient when I have the basketball in the post.”

Opponents this season focused their attention on trying to stop the dominant Warren by double teaming him whenever he received the ball in the post near the basket, and he expects teams will continue to double team him next season.

Coach Jacobson commented on the strong leadership this season’s seniors possessed.

“Drew Love, Pierson Hamann, Daniel LaQua and Mason Seehafer have provided excellent leadership and tremendous buy-in to their roles and how they can best help their team,” he said. “They have been a member of our program since the 5K Little Red Raiders. They left their mark on the proud tradition of this program. They leave as back-to-back conference champions and regional champions. This was a very tight, close-knit team and it is very tough to see this season come to an end and say goodbye to these special seniors.”

Marathon returns many talented players next season including starters Cooper Hoeksema, Underwood and Warren. Freshmen Drew Woelfel and True Thurs were the first players off the bench this season and junior Payton Lawrence provided Warren with a breather during games. Junior Andrew Glennon and sophomore Cody Radtke are two more promising players back next season.

“Our younger players gained extremely valuable experience over the course of this season,” Jacobson said. “They played in big game after big game throughout our conference, nonconference and playoff schedule. We will learn a great deal from this game and this season, and then work hard to make sure this is not a stumbling block in our way but a stepping stone. I know our guys will be hungry and motivated to continue to improve individually so we can be the best team we can be collectively.”

Marathon concluded this season with a 23-4 record. Auburndale, meanwhile, finished this season with a 24-4 record after suffering a 75-70 loss to St. Mary Catholic of Neenah in Saturday’s WIAA Division 4 sectional championship played at Appleton East.

Number one seed St. Mary’s Catholic, 26-2, plays against number four seed Kenosha St. Joseph, 18-10, at 6:35 p.m. this Thursday, March 16, in a WIAA Division 4 state tournament semifinal at the Kohl Center in Madison. Number two seed Onalaska Luther, 26-2, plays against number three seed Whitehall, 22-6, in the other Division 4 state semifi nal after the first game on Thursday night.

SECTIONAL SEMIFINAL ACTIONPictured to the left, Marathon senior guard Drew Love attempts a shot against Auburndale senior Alex Willfahrt during the first half of Thursday’s WIAA Division 4 sectional semifinal at Marshfi eld High School. Love was aggressive driving the baseline in the opening half of play with a few made layups to the chagrin of Auburndale head coach Chad Weinfurter. At the bottom, Marathon varsity boys basketball players gather on the Marshfield High School gym floor for a team huddle before the start of Thursday’s sectional semifinal against Auburndale.STAFF PHOTO/CASEY KRAUTKRAMER

MARATHON HAS STRONG FAN SUPPORT- It appears Marathon student Luke Aschbrenner’s favorite Red Raiders boys basketball player was Mason Seehafer (20) this season, as evidenced by his sign at Thursday’s sectional semifinal in Marshfield.STAFF PHOTO/CASEY KRAUTKRAMER

POWERFUL FIRST HALF- Marathon junior center Grant Warren powers over Auburndale for a basket in the first half during the Red Raiders’ 55-47 loss to the Eagles in Thursday’s WIAA Division 4 sectional semifinal at Marshfield High School. Warren did the majority of his damage in the first half with eight points, nine rebounds and four blocks.STAFF PHOTO/CASEY KRAUTKRAMER